SpaceX’s Dragon C108.2 spacecraft departed the International Space Station after a month-long stay on Saturday via the first-ever ground-controlled release of a visiting vehicle, sending the spacecraft on a five-and-a-half hour return journey expected to culminate with a parachute-assisted splashdown landing

A science-laden SpaceX Dragon spacecraft pulled up ten meters underneath the Space Station on Sunday in a high-fidelity orbital link up to be captured by the Space Station’s robotic arm to begin a four-week stay for the delivery of over two metric tons of science hardware, supplies and two new sensors to be installed externally.

Sporting a sooty attire from a previous voyage, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted the fourth Dragon mission of 2017 to the International Space Station into orbit on Friday to deliver science gear, systems hardware, crew supplies and two external payloads

Fifteen months after a Falcon 9 rocket went up in flames atop Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40, the re-built facility supported its first Static Fire Test of a Falcon 9 rocket this week in preparation for SpaceX’s next resupply mission to the International Space Station set for liftoff as early as next Tuesday.

The Materials on ISS Flight Facility (MISSE-FF) undergoes pre-launch processing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for launch in the Trunk Section of the Dragon SpX-13 cargo spacecraft.